Dark Cosmos Prologue: Avatar
by kevinYking
Summary: "Fire Lord Zuko welcome to Zhinxhao asylum for mental sickness I hope your trip was without incident?" Zuko's first visit to the asylum, where he placed his sister after their Agni-Kai will set in motion events, that will have far reaching consequences for the entire world, especially the Gaang


Zuko walked of the boat onto the pier, he was greeted by warden of the asylum and some guards "Fire Lord Zuko welcome to Zhinxhao asylum for mental sickness I hope your trip was without incident?".

Zuko nodded curtly "It was acceptable" he did not trust this man since he was hired by his father, no Ozai is not worthy of such a word, Zuko was no longer gonna recognize that man as his father, from now on he was just the former Fire Lord.

Zuko's distrust for the warden was also one of the reasons for this visit, this was the asylum he had placed Azula in, after he had defeated her in that fateful Agni Kai.

Zuko had reason to believe that the warden was mistreating Azula, as much a monster as Azula was she was still his little sister.

This would be Zuko's first visit after he had Azula placed here, he knew Mai had been here a couple of times, but she refused to talk about her visits here, she said that if he wanted to hear about his sister he had to go the source, it was also she who had told him to go now.

He had also heard that Ty-Lee went here often, it had practically become a second home to her.

Zuko had also learned that Ty-Lee was also here today, Mai had told him, he was happy that he could get a chance to catch up, Ty-Lee had been Azula's friend more than his, still they always got along.

Zuko was brought out of his revery by the warden's voice "So will Lady Mai be joining us today?" Zuko looked down at the man, the warden was an elderly, greasy, fat and balding man.

"No she is at the palace" Zuko then cut of the conversation by walking away from the warden and his two guards.

As Zuko walked through the asylum he was surprised by its appearance it was not like he had expected, it looked more like a luxury spa than an asylum, he was quickly reminded that this was an insane asylum.

The doors to the inmates rooms looked like, they were supposed to be able to resist a bomb, Zuko walked down the long corridors, searching for the door to the room where his sister would be.

He turned a corner and he was met with a large courtyard with a spring in the middle where some turtle-ducks swam around, around in the courtyard were some benches and some stone tables. On the other side of the large and fancy courtyard, he saw a blast door that looked like it could withstand a direct hit by Sozin's comet, he concluded that this was Azula's cell.

If that was not proof enough for him, he was convinced by the fact that Ty-lee was standing outside, the gymnast looked up and he face lighted up with a happy smile, Zuko could not help him self and he smiled back.

When he got up to the door, he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug from the smaller girl, "Zuko I'm so glad you're here", Zuko returned the hug "So am I".

Zuko ended the hug and looked at the door "So are you gonna tell me how she's doing, Mai refuses to tell me" Ty-lee's happy smile was replaced with a look of sadness "Zuko maybe it's best if you see for you self?" the young Fire Lord sighed "Let's go in then", Ty-Lee nodded and opened the door.

Nothing could have prepared Zuko, for what he would see on the other side of that door, he sucked in a breath when he saw the state of his little sister.

A year ago Azula was the second most dangerous person in the world next to fire lord Ozai, a year ago she was royal grace personified, a year ago his sister was what every fire bender hoped to be strong, relentless and completely in control of her bending.

Now she was not Azula anymore, she was only a little above skin and bone, her skin was no longer the perfect ivory from before now it was dried up and unhealthy pale, her hair was filthy and knotted, her nails long and broken and what frightened Zuko the most was her eyes.

Azula's golden eyes that normally radiated strength and pride was now glazed and looking into nothing.

Zuko could feel the small part of him, that still saw Azula as his little sister, exploded in a blaze of burning hot fury.

He turned to Ty-Lee "Who is responsible for her?!" Ty-Lee jumped at the growl and stammered "I don't know" Zuko saw the frightened expression on the girl's face and his face softened, but his voice did not loose it seriousness "Then tell what you do know".

Ty-Lee took a deep breath and began telling Zuko the hard truth "She's not responding, she doesn't eat on her own accord, I have to be here every other day just to get here to eat so she doesn't starve to death" Zuko felt his lungs stop working for a brief millisecond.

Ty-Lee's sad expression was replaced with a look of disgust "Even if she didn't eat it wouldn't make a difference" Zuko had a feeling what was coming but he had to be sure "What do you mean Ty-Lee?", the girl sighed deeply "Zuko they are purposely neglecting her".

Zuko took a deep breath to calm himself and nodded for the girl to continue, "In the beginning she weren't like this she screamed bloody murder and tried to escape on multiple occasions, she talked about revenge and justice but" Zuko raised and eyebrow "But?" "When she found out that you and Mai were getting married and the peace had been officially restored, she just stopped" "Stopped what?" "Everything".

It pained Zuko to hear his sister's fate, had she been any other person he probably wouldn't have cared, but she was still his sister and that counted for something.

Zuko and Ty-Lee's conversation was brought to a stop, when the sound of rattling chains made them remember that they weren't the only ones in the room.

"Zuzu?..." Azula looked up at her brother like a sleepy child who had walked in on its parents arguing in the middle of the night.

Zuko said nothing for a long time, he just stood there staring at his little sister, the young Fire-Lord then realized even though he had decided to see his sister he had no idea what to say to her now that he stood in front of her.

He finally leaned down on one knee in front of her "Hey Azula" he said softly unsure of how she would respond.

Azula smiled up at her big brother showing of her weirdly white and sharp teeth, "Zuzu why are you here?" she asked in an innocent childlike voice.

Zuko looked back over his shoulder at Ty-Lee for a advice on what to say, but the acrobat looked shell-shocked down at Azula.

Zuko looked back to his sister "I came to see how you were doing" Azula's face brightened, she moved to hug her brother but her chains stopped her just short of reaching him, her happy smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of sad confusion.

The girl looked up into her brothers eyes, her own beginning to over flow whit tears"Zuzu why am I chained to the wall" just as she said it her eyes lost the childlike innocence and was replaced by horrified realization.

She began to pull at her chains and the temperature in the room rose instantly several degrees, she began chanting "Nonononono! This wasn't supposed to happen, I'm sorry daddy! No! they will hurt me again!" she screamed in pain as lightning crackled over her skin.

Ty-Lee ran to her former friend "Zula!" Azula looked up at her and she just stopped, the temperature fell and the lightning stopped crackling over her skin and she stopped pulling at her chains.

Ty-Lee reached out for her but, Azula coiled away from the touch like it would burn her, she moved as far away as the chains would allow, where she pulled her knees to her chest and began quietly sobbing into her knees.

Ty-Lee moved towards her again but was stopped by Zuko who put a hand on her should, she looked up at the boy who slowly shook his head sadly.

Zuko moved over sat in front of his sister "Azula what do you mean? Who will hurt you?" Azula looked up, her eyes red from crying "They will! Father and HIM!".

AT THE ROYAL FIRE NATION PRISON

Ozai sat lazily up against the wall staring into nothing, he still had a hard time grasping the fact the had been defeated, the Avatar had defeated him, and his son had ascended to the throne as the new Fire Lord, he did not know the fate of his daughter and frankly he could not care less, Ozai was brought out of his self pitying train of thought by the sound of someone clearing his throat.

He turned his head and grinned "First the new Fire lord grace me with his presence and now you of all people" the person on the other side of the prison bars grinned "People is probably not the right description".

Ozai smiled to himself "That's true, now tell me why are you here, no doubt you know I lost the war that my honorable grandfather and you started" the man let out a crude laugh and stepped into what little light there were in the cell.

The man wore a robe that covered him from head to toe, but underneath the hood a glowing red eye could be seen.

"Your grandfather was a pompous fool, who thought himself more important than he was, I only helped him because you would be his grandchild".

Ozai huffed "That's flattering and all but it doesn't change the fact that I lost the war" Ozai closed his eyes and took a deep breath "And it doesn't chance the fact that you are here to make sure that none of it can be traced back to you...so just get it over with" Ozai braced himself for the blow that would end his life but none ever came.

Instead of a killing blow laughter was heard "My dear Ozai do you really think that I would use all that energy help you reach your goal and then just kill you at the first minor failure?" the man got his laughter under control "No Ozai our plan is still on track, I just realized I was going about this all wrong, I was unfair to expect you to be able to win without the proper backup" Ozai's right eyebrow shot up questioningly "What do you mean? The Fire Nation had and still have the most vicious military in the world! No band of petty mercenaries would have made a difference" the man chuckled "Ozai I never said the backup would be from this world" Ozai stood up for the first time since he had been put in this cell "What..".

The man then turned around and walked to the door, he stopped in front of it and looked over his shoulder "Oh I almost forgot, its has come to my attention that you have lost your bending" he then snapped his fingers and Ozai could feel the strength and warmth return to his body, the man then said with a serious voice "Take it easy now, your powers will be back in a week or so, until then I suggest you keep out of any fights" Ozai nodded and flexed his wrist and he could feel the fire inside him beginning to burn, "Oh one last thing, tomorrow your son will be here and demand to know what you have done to his sister and your wife will be there too" he then disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Ozai grinned to himself as he sat down "Things are about to get very interesting I reckon"

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
